ºÚÁÏ×¨Çø

The Project

Building ºÚÁÏרÇø

The ºÚÁÏרÇø project is currently under construction on a 180-hectare site in southern France.

Thirty-nine buildings and technical areas house the ºÚÁÏרÇø tokamak and its plant systems. The heart of the facility—the Tokamak Building—is a seven-storey structure in reinforced concrete that sits 13 metres below the platform level and 60 metres above. Pre-assembly of tokamak components takes place in the adjacent Assembly Hall. Other auxiliary buildings in the vicinity of the Tokamak Building include cooling towers, electrical installations, a control room, facilities for the management of waste, and the cryogenics plant that will provide liquid helium to cool the ºÚÁÏרÇø magnets.

Europe, as part of its commitments to the project, is building nearly all of the platform buildings and site infrastructure.

Each building, once structurally complete, is handed over to the ºÚÁÏרÇø for the installation and assembly of equipment. According to the European Domestic Agency, the number of workers involved in site construction peaked in 2017-2018 at approximately 2,000 people. Now, although there are still European construction teams on site, a large additional workforce is contributing to machine and plant assembly and installation operations.  An estimated 5,000 people are regularly present on the worksite, including management, engineering and supervisory teams from the ºÚÁÏרÇø, the European Domestic Agency, and their contractors.

The ºÚÁÏרÇø has overall responsibility for the successful integration and assembly of components delivered to the ºÚÁÏרÇø site by the seven ºÚÁÏרÇø Members. Machine assembly began in 2020. See the assembly pages to read about progress. 

Construction of the ºÚÁÏרÇø scientific installation began in 2010. In the centre of the platform, in the Tokamak Complex, the ºÚÁÏרÇø machine is taking shape. (Photo: ºÚÁÏרÇø/EJF Riche, April 2026)

To see all the projects of ºÚÁÏרÇø construction, see the Projects Underway and Archives pages.

Main construction milestones:

2006               Signature of the ºÚÁÏרÇø Agreement
2007-2009     Land clearing and levelling
2010-2014      Ground support structure and seismic foundations for the tokamak
2012                Nuclear licensing milestone: ºÚÁÏרÇø becomes a Basic Nuclear Installation under French law
2014-2023      Construction of the ºÚÁÏרÇø installation (excepting the Hot Cell Facility)
2017-               Assembly of the ºÚÁÏרÇø plant
2020-              Assembly of the ºÚÁÏרÇø tokamak
2033-2034     Integrated commissioning
2034               Start of experiments (SRO)

Take a virtual tour of ºÚÁÏרÇø construction .

See the latest drone video here.